We Remember: The Mark of Favour
by Contrary To Popular Belief
Summary: The life of a Victor is extremely difficult at best—oh, who am I kidding, there is no best. Rewind. The life of a Victor is hell, but mine is in a class all of its own, because my wound will never heal. Literally. And I'm NOT trying to make myself special.


_**After the rebellion in Panem had ended, a group of dedicated people decided to put together a tribute to the past victors, who never lived to see their country freed from the dictatorship of the Capitol. Norene Veiler was one of these victors—the first victor of District Twelve, in fact. This is her story, put together from stories, recordings, journals, and yes, a bit of imagination. Read on . . .**_

**We Remember**

**The Mark of Favour: Norene Veiler**

**Chapter One: The Reaping and Stupid Trains**

I was feeling quite okay for a reaping day, actually.

I didn't have any tesserae or anything. When that practice was introduced, my mother forbade me to take them. We could support ourselves, she said. She had an okay job, and she was the district's tough lady. I loved my mother.

Mother never implied that I had to dress up and look nice for the reaping. She pointedly dressed in her worst clothes on that day, just to rebel. In those days, though, the kids assembled at the school first before going to the square, and they had a rule about garbage-heap-ready clothes. Of course, a lot of the kids were poor, but it wasn't as bad then as it is now. But I digress. On to the reaping.

Our escort, Tally Marday, was a fun-sized Capitol woman who loved to wear puffy 'cupcake dresses' as my friend Skyler put it.

'Wonder what flavour the cupcake will be this year?' he said casually from behind me, as we were lining up to get blood samples taken before the reaping. I glared at him over my shoulder because the Peacekeeper was right there.

'Skyler, shush,' Behind him stands Reyna Marks, who is sixteen and probably my best friend after Skyler. She looks younger than her age, with large brown curls framing her blue eyes. 'You have a bad habit of making fun of things you don't understand.'

Skyler was eighteen like me, but he was turning nineteen in a week's time. 'If I get picked today, I will forever blame my parents for not getting on with it.' he had said earlier. I stepped on his foot.

Back to the present. I hissed under my breath as the Peacekeeper stabbed my finger with that evil blood-taker thing. I'm still waiting for them to arrange a Hunger Games where those blood-takers are the only weapons on offer.

We proceed to our respective age and gender groups, and wait while the mayor gives his speech about the Dark Days and all that. Boring. Those events were years before I was born (well, two years, to be exact), and all my life, I've seen kids my age pay for them.

And then it's Tally's turn to take the stage. She trips up to the reaping bowls in a pink-and-green cupcake dress and ridiculously pointy shoes that could probably kill someone, and clasps her pink-nailed hands childishly. 'Welcome to the twentieth Annual Hunger Games, District Twelve!' she calls, then pauses. There's an extremely weak round of applause, then she spreads out her hands and says 'Well, shall we pick the two lucky tributes?'

I hope that was a rhetorical question.

Apparently it was, because without waiting for an answer, she trips up to one of the bowls and with a cry of 'Ladies first!' plunges her hand in amongst the papers. My name is in there, six times.

Tally fishes around for a while, her other hand raised with fingers crossed. After what seems like ages, she finally picks one. Lifting it out of the bowl, she holds it out and reads the name written on it.

'Norene Veiler!'

Oh. Oh, no. Oh, crap. That's me.

The crowd moves away, leaving a wide circle around me, like the betraying cattle that they are, while I stand there, thinking unkind thoughts about the people around me.

'Get a move on, girl!' someone yells. A Peacekeeper comes up behind me and shoves me forward, but I still can't do anything. Somehow I feel like everything will be okay if I just stay still.

But, sadly, that isn't going to happen. Two Peacekeepers take me by the arms and drag me up to the stage. Once we're there, they dump me unceremoniously next to Tally, who discreetly steps to the side. I lie on my side for a few moments, with a nice view of the empty space beside me where the previous victors should stand. Oh, did I mention? As of the twentieth Games, District Twelve has never had a victor.

I know, I know. So encouraging.

A secret poke from one of Tally's killer-shoes prompts me to get up. I stand reluctantly, head spinning slightly.

_Don't look at the people. _Don't _look at them._ But I can't help glancing down to where my friends are. Skyler looks quietly stricken, staring at me as if he can't believe it. I know _I _believe it. Reyna is staring too, tears streaming down her face. That starts a lump in my throat, but I swallow hard and look at my mother. She's standing with her head hung, so I can't see her face. She won't be crying—Lenora Veiler doesn't cry—but somehow this makes me feel worse.

_Don't cry in front of everyone. Norene Veiler doesn't cry either. _Don't _do it._

So I just look at my feet, forcing a scowl onto my face. Meanwhile, Tally is moving right on. 'Now, let's pick our male tribute!' She dives into the other bowl (not literally, heh, that would be funny), and, after the appropriate ceremony, pulls out a slip.

For a horrible moment, I'm afraid she's going to call Skyler. But she doesn't. Instead, an obstinate boy called Adiel Gadslocke is called up.

I know him. He and a few of his buddies like to terrorize the smaller kids at school. It's ironic that he would be my district partner, when I'm usually the one who scares _him_. But then, I scare a lot of people.

I think I must have zoned out, because now I'm being hustled off to the Justice Building. Right. They used to lock the tributes in there by themselves in the time before the train leaves for the Capitol, but a few years ago they started allowing family members in to see them, mainly because too many people tried to sneak in anyway, so they might as well allow it.

They barely left me alone in that room before my mother charges in. She flings her arms around me so hard that I can't breathe. A typical Mother-hug.

'Don't do anything stupid, you hear me?' she whispers. Translation: 'I love you'. Alternate translation: 'I'm going to kill those sickos'.

'Okay.' I reply, hugging her back. 'Don't you do anything stupid either.'

Translation: 'I love you too'.

Then I have to cry.

We sit in that rather uncomfortable position for a while. Again, I feel as if everything will be fine if I just stay still. Then the door opens again.

'Um, can we . . .' Reyna beings uncomfortably. Mom straightens up and looks at my friends. 'Oh, sure.' she says, switching back to guarded mode.

Reyna tackles me in much the same way as Mom did. 'We love you, Norene.' she chokes.

Skyler gently pulls her off me. 'Yeah, we love you.' he says, grinning, but his voice sounds deadly serious.

'Uh, thanks.' Curse my inability to function properly in emotional situations!

He gives me a hug too, somewhat gentler than Mom and Reyna. 'Good luck, Norene.' he whispers.

'I'll win.' The words come out before I can fully process them. 'I'll win for you.'

He holds me at arms' length and looks into my eyes. 'You do that.' Skyler was always the only one who took my stupid dreams and fantasies seriously (or at least pretended to).

'I will.' Before I can say anything else, the door slams open once again, but this time it's a Peacekeeper. 'Time's up.' he growls.

Mom gives him a look that clearly says '_screw you_' but she gets up civilly enough. 'Come on, kids. Let's go.'

The Peacekeeper allows them some time to leave before crossing the room and hauling me up roughly. 'Time to go, kid.' he says, a little less fiercely. I walk slowly out of the building, dragging my feet as much as I dare. Adiel is outside already, but he doesn't meet my eyes.

'Well, hello, Norene!' Oh, _yay_.

Tally Marday almost skips over to me. 'Come on, dear, let's go with a minimum of fuss!' This rubs me the wrong way for some reason, and I slap her hand away when she puts it on my shoulder.

The Peacekeepers move in immediately, and Tally puts her hands to her mouth. 'Oh, I'm sorry, dear, I didn't mean to offend you.'

'You didn't.' I snap. Even though that's not true, I could care less what I say to her right now. Doesn't she understand what she's condoning?

The inside of the train is faintly cool and smells like, well, _sweet_. Not any particular scent, really. I take in the luxurious interior, forgetting to be fearsome for a moment.

Of course, Tally has to break the silence. 'Enjoy yourselves, now! I'll show you your rooms. Dinner is at exactly six o'clock, so please don't be late.'

Really. We're about to enter the Hunger Games, and she tells us not to be late for dinner. Is she for real?

I glance over at Adiel, but he still isn't looking at me. This is somehow amusing to me, and I make a mental note to tell Skyler and Reyna how awkward he acted—then I remember the circumstances, and that I probably won't be seeing either of them again. Bam—my bad mood comes crashing down again.

'Norene?' Tally's sweet voice breaks into my dark thoughts. 'Your room is just here, sweetie.' She guides me down the narrow hallway to the first door on the right, and slides it open. It comes as a surprise to me that a door can open without squeaking.

Inside, there's an unnecessarily large bed-couch-thing, with at least one truckload of cushions balanced on it. The carpet is so thick that it almost gives me a fright as I step in, thinking I've trodden on some dead animal or something. Well, that's the best metaphor I can come up with.

The door clicks shut behind me, and I'm left alone in that ridiculously lavish bedroom. It's kind of dark, so I walk over to the lamp, which is a frilly affair with lots of loops on it, and without much difficulty, I manage to find the switch. The room is immediately filled with a pale pink light which makes me want to go to sleep right then and there. Well, that's no hardship.

I find a Norene-sized space amongst the truckload of cushions and pull my legs up to my chest, wondering what Mom and my friends are doing right now. Mom will probably watch the other districts' reapings, because she'll want to see what I'm up against, but I don't know what the others will do.

Soon I find myself drifting off, having troubled dreams in which I'm at the reaping again, except Skyler and Reyna are in the victors' places, Mom is an escort, and creepy music keeps coming out of the Justic Building. What a nightmare.

* * *

'Norene!'

'Aaahh!' I fall right off the couch-bed and land on my face. 'Yeah?' My voice is muffled by the dead-animal carpet.

Tally goes over to the pink lamp. 'Why, dear, you didn't have to leave it on that setting. This one's much better, see?' She pushes a button and ordinary white light fills the room.

'Oh, right.' Darn it, why didn't I see that?

'It's dinner time, sweetie. You should eat as much as you can while you're here, you're as skinny as a stick.'

Maybe I am by her standards, but there are plenty of kids in District Twelve who have me beat in the skinny department. I choose to ignore her remark, and follow her out into the hallway. Going to the end, we arrive at a dining room of sorts, which is just as luxurious as my room. Adiel is sitting in one of the fancy chairs, trying to dissolve into the fabric.

Tally pulls out a chair for me next to him, and I pointedly choose one on the other side of the table. She looks crestfallen, but keeps quiet.

Pretty soon, a man and a woman come out of a small door in the corner that I didn't notice until now, carrying our dinner. I know by their uniforms that they're Avoxes. Mom told me about Avoxes.

I supress a shiver as the woman sets my plate in front of me. I nearly choke on my spit. I've _never _had that much food in one sitting before.

Adiel probably hasn't either, but instead of tucking in like I'm doing, he just sits there, staring at the table cloth.

'Is there something wrong?' Tally enquires innocently, setting down her fork.

_Of course there's something wrong, _I think. But Adiel says nothing, just starts eating slowly and methodically.

'Well,' says Tally. 'If you're going to be quiet like that, we may as well watch the other reapings.' Almost immediately, the Avox man walks over to the screen on the wall which I just noticed, and pushes a button. It blinks into life. We're just in time to see District Three's reaping.

I tune out most of it. It's not like I want to see more people's lives ruined. But my head snaps up when Tally says happily 'There's you, Norene!'

I don't know if she's so pumped because of me, or because she enjoys seeing herself on television. But there's me alright, standing stock still in the square of District Twelve looking like an idiot. And there's the Peacekeeper who dragged me up to the stage.

Then, by some strange coincidence, the camera focuses on Skyler. My heart skips a beat because I totally didn't expect to see him.

Somehow, seeing his stricken face makes me even angrier than I was before. I've nearly finished my food, but I'm not hungry anymore. I stand up and announce 'I'm going to bed.'

'Don't forget to have a shower,' Tally calls after me. That is a good point. Can't arrive at the Capitol dirty, can I?

The sooner this whole thing is over, the better.

* * *

**Wow, that was a whopping . . . 5 pages! O.O That might be one of the longest chapters I've ever written. Yay!**

**Anyway, welcome to my humble story. This may be updated somewhat slowly, since I have other stories going, but don't be deterred! Put it on your alert list and be patient. :) Please review! **

**Disclaimer: The Hunger Games belongs to Suzanne Collins. **


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